As we’ve said, this month’s theme deals with race, identity and segregation. The Metropolitan Planning Council has been looking at these issues all year long with its Cost of Segregation project. So we’re thrilled to have MPC’s vice-president Marisa Novara joining us on Tuesday, October 3rd for our next show.

Marisa joined MPC in 2011. She directs MPC’s housing and community development work, and manages technical assistance and support to communities facing development challenges related to housing, transportation, transit-oriented development and economic development. She designed and manages the multi-year Cost of Segregation project.

Prior to MPC, Marisa spent a year in Milan, Italy, completing her master’s degree in urban planning with a focus on international community development. Her studies were informed by years of work on the ground in Chicago, most recently as the senior project manager for Lawndale Christian Development Corporation. There, she directed more than $30 million in affordable rental and for-sale housing development in the North Lawndale neighborhood. She also worked in community development at the Steans Family Foundation and Carole Robertson Center for Learning.

A Michigan native, Marisa has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in sociology, master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, certificate in affordable housing finance, development and management from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and master’s in urban planning from the Istituto Politecnico di Milano, where her master’s thesis explored the role that an intermediary could play in advancing the community development field in northern Italy.

Marisa serves on the Community Development Committee of The Resurrection Project, the board of West Central Association, was a 2014 Marshall Memorial fellow and a 2016 Leadership Greater Chicago fellow. She lives in Little Italy with her husband and two sons.

Join Marisa and the rest of our readers for The Frunchroom this Tuesday at Beverly Arts Center.